Russia unleashed another wave of attacks early Tuesday on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, killing at least one and prompting evacuations, extending a day of terror for the city’s residents that started with midday strikes.
Explosions rang out in different parts of Kyiv overnight, according to local and military officials, sparking a fire in a high-rise building and killing one person. At least three people were injured. It was not immediately clear whether the damage was from the debris of intercepted attacks or from direct hits.
A month of relentless assaults on the capital has shaken a weary populace. Local officials said there had been 17 attacks in 30 days, rivaling some of the city’s worst moments since the invasion. Ukrainian officials have said the concentrated attacks were aimed at confusing and incapacitating its air defense systems, and at intimidating and exhausting civilians.
Twenty people were evacuated from the high-rise building, where the two upper floors were engulfed in flames, and people might have been trapped in the rubble, the Kyiv city military administration said.
Elsewhere in Kyiv, two homes and three cars caught fire from falling debris and four people were hospitalized with injuries, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko said.
Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said the early morning attacks were the third wave aimed at the capital in 24 hours. A rare daytime barrage of ballistic missiles on Monday had sent residents, including schoolchildren carrying their backpacks, running for cover as the city’s air defense system shot down missiles.
The city was targeted with 11 ballistic missiles shortly after 11 a.m. on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials. There were no known deaths from the earlier attacks; one woman was injured, according to officials. Russia said Monday’s strikes had been aimed at air bases rather than civilians. Ukrainian officials said an airfield in western Ukraine was hit.
Early Tuesday, Russian forces appeared to have primarily targeted the city with drones. At least 20 were intercepted, according to the city military administration. Russian forces were constantly shifting the methods of attack, Mr. Popko said.
Russia has stepped up attacks on the civilian population, including in the,capital, in recent weeks as Ukraine gears up for a counteroffensive. Military analysts have said that Ukraine has been laying the groundwork for the campaign, launching strikes deep beyond enemy lines and undermining Russia’s logistical operations.
“It’s time to get back what’s ours,” Ukraine’s supreme military commander, Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, wrote in a statement Saturday.
Victoria Kim
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